Bring Your Pet To Work Day
by ANGSWIN
Summary: Goose and Crookshanks meet…and develop an unexpected connection…when SHIELD has their first ever 'Bring Your Pet to Work Day.' Will the same thing happen for their humans, as well? ... HP/Captain Marvel/MCU crossover


Written for the **2019 Marvelously Magical Fanfiction Bingo** challenge

* * *

**Bring Your Pet To Work Day**

As he attempted to make it across headquarters to his office, Fury cursed under his breath as he dodged yet another giant over-friendly dog who attempted to smell him, lick him, jump up on him, or piss on him (as one unfortunate canine thought about doing until Fury glared him into belly-showing submission). He did not know whose asinine idea it was to implement such a moronic idea as 'Bring Your Pet to Work Day,' but he sure was going to kick some ass when he found out. Dogs were meant to sniff for bombs and drugs or to herd sheep in the fields– _not_ to roam the corridors of an organization as important as SHIELD. It was not some kind of goddamn petting zoo.

At least it had been clearly stated on the memos posted everywhere that the damn things were to be leashed at all times - especially whenever their owners needed to take them along to do such things as use the copier, grab a cup of coffee, or take a piss themselves. After all, the last thing SHIELD needed was to have a bunch of animals running around loose…as if they did not already have enough trouble with rogue agents, Hydra, terrorists, aliens…the list could go on and on.

Fury finally reached his office and collapsed gratefully into his desk chair. Immediately, he both heard and felt the purrs of a heavy warmth as it wound affectionately around his ankles…and his irritation evaporated instantly. Without even looking, he reached down to stroke the orange feline that he knew was down there. Goose did not factor into his no-pets-at-work rampage since she was technically not a pet…or even really a cat, at all. In fact, the little alien feline was closer to being an agent than some of the actual agents were. After all, he had seen the little Flerken _eat_ several rather nasty aliens who had tried to attack them. Well…he hoped that they had been eaten rather than just stored in one of those weird-ass interdimensional mouth pockets that he heard were characteristic of her species. That particular idea was just too disturbing to consider.

At any rate, it had been more than a few years since Goose had apparently decided to stay on Earth with him and guard the Tesseract while Danvers helped to relocate the Skrulls and continue her quest to save the universe. During that time, Fury had also forgiven the creature for the whole eye incident. After all, he had time to think about it logically and knew that if somebody had gotten all up in his face without permission, he would have lashed out, too…and he probably would have taken out much more than just an eye.

Plus, it helped that the damn little alien was just so cute…and that she liked to sit in his lap…right out of sight behind his desk. There, in her favorite perch, she would purr comfortingly whenever someone who annoyed the hell out of him was sitting on the other side. In fact, when he took the time to consider it, he realized that Goose had probably saved the lives of several stupid-ass inept agents and bureaucratic pencil pushers with just that one simple habit alone. Therefore, she really ought to have been given a medal…at the very least.

Regardless of what Goose _was,_ though, she was _not_ bushy and long-haired. However, that was exactly what Fury felt beneath his hand as he petted the cat under his desk. At the realization, his eye shot around to the pet bed in the corner. Sure enough, Goose was sprawled over there. She just flicked her tail nonchalantly, however, as she stared back at him with that look of superiority that all cats wore…but which Goose _owned…_as she calmly watched Fury stroke the interloper_._ Her lack of concern briefly relieved his mind about the issue until further investigation proved that the other cat…who had somehow made himself at home in Fury's office…was indeed another ginger feline with eerily intelligent eyes. This one, though, had the aforementioned long hair, a smooshed face, and an impressive set of cahonies, as well.

_Good Lord! There are two of them now! _thought Fury as he tried to figure out where the new Flerken had come from. Despite his alarm, however, he continued to scratch the feline under his chin in a way that he seemed to like – if the way he kept shoving his head under Fury's hand for more was any way to judge. The man obliged, but his free hand still moved carefully to his phone as he dialed the extension of his most trusted agent.

"Coulson," he stated in a no-nonsense tone when the man answered the phone. "Come to my office immediately. We have a…situation." That was all he said before he disconnected. However, his free hand then joined the other one as he continued to pet the little orange beast. It might be dangerous tentacle-mouth alien capable of devouring several grown men at a single time, but at least it was not one of those damn drooling dogs out there…and for some inconceivable reason it actually seemed to like him, too. Therefore, Fury found that he just could nothelp himself. "Who's a pretty little kitty?" he cooed softly right before a knock sounded at his door.

"Come in!" he answered in his normal gruff tones after he made sure that he had removed all traces of affection from his voice and settled his face into its default serious deadpan mode. He then watched approvingly as Coulson entered the room carefully, one hand on his holster and ready for trouble. After all, he did say it was a _situation._

"No need for that," he bluntly reassured the agent. Instead, he gestured to the new _cat._ "Do you know anything about _this?"_ he asked and his tone clearly relayed the importance of such an innocent-sounding question.

Coulson paused in confusion for just a moment since the orange cat currently in Fury's lap was not the one who usually sat there. "Yes, Sir," he answered as he quickly recovered from the surprise. "That's Crookshanks. He is Special Agent Granger's familiar. She brought him in for Pet Day, but she was called into a meeting some time ago. I think she asked Barton to keep an eye on him."

At the sound of his name, Crookshanks looked up at the man standing by the door. His purrs increased in both strength and volume in recognition, so it was obvious to Fury that he also approved of the agent. However, even with the intrusion, the new feline still did not deign to leave his comfortable perch on the man's lap. Therefore, the Director dismissed the man in relief that the situation was not quite as dire as he had thought. Afterwards, he continued to almost absentmindedly rub the furry orange ears under his hands as he thought about Special Agent Granger.

The intriguing woman was a witch (and it was apparently_ not_ an insult to be called that in her world). Her services had originally been just "on loan" to SHIELD from the British Ministry of Magic until the American agency had finally wooed her away to their side permanently with the incentive of their highest clearance…besides Fury's own…and the opportunity to build up their secret Department of Magic in whatever way that she thought was best. Granger had been chosen for that particular honor over all of the eligible MACUSA candidates because of her extensive range of experiences in the British Wizarding War when she was just a teenager…and the impressive work that she had done afterwards as a liaison between the magical and muggle sides of the government there.

The fact that she was also recognized by most as a genius helped, too - especially since she held the wizarding equivalent of several doctorates in important magical fields. Even better than all of that…in Fury's opinion…was the fact that she was much more effective at cutting through bureaucratic bullshit with her soft accent and charming smile (and sometimes even a few discreet waves of her wand) than Fury himself could ever be. As a result – particularly since he did not really understand half the shit that she was involved with anyway - she was given free reign over the department that she created almost single-handedly.

Consequently, since she was under his jurisdiction in name only, he did not see much of Special Agent Granger. However, what he had seen, he had _definitely_ liked. How could it have been otherwise? She was attractive _and_ brilliant. She was also quite the talented diplomat even while she retained the ability to kick ass in a hundred different magical ways whenever she deemed it necessary to do so. In fact, she was basically the perfect woman in his eyes.

Unfortunately for him, though, Granger was already engaged to some hotshot wizard - a fellow Wizarding War veteran at that – by the time she came to SHIELD. Therefore, Fury always made a point to keep his professional distance during their limited interactions. After all, his life was already way too complicated without adding an irresistible…but completely unavailable…woman into the mix. That particular scenario could mean nothing but trouble for everyone involved!

Nevertheless, none of those musings stopped him from admiring the view when the woman herself showed up at his office door a short time later. Apparently, she had been notified of her wayward animal friend's whereabouts by Coulson after her meeting.

"Director Fury," she acknowledged him with such a bright and cheerful smile that it almost forced one from him in response. "I am so sorry to bother you, but Phil told me that you had my..." she paused once she saw the familiar feline in his lap. "Crooks! You naughty boy! Why are you bothering the Director?" she scolded affectionately. The feline in question purred loudly at the sight of his beloved human, but again he made no move to leave his comfortable situation.

"I assure you that it is not a problem, Special Agent Granger," Fury replied with a touch of amusement in his tone at their interaction. "Your _cat_ was apparently keeping Goose company when I arrived. Now he is doing the same for me. You are welcome to have a seat, though – especially since he seems to be in no hurry to leave."

The woman complied cheerfully without hesitation and sat down in the indicated chair before she asked, "Goose?" with a bit of confusion. Before she had time to even finish saying the name, however, the agent found herself with a lapful of purring orange fur.

"Well…I guess that answers that question," she said with a laugh. Then she stroked the female feline that demanded her attention with another smile that was so attractive that it made the Director almost completely forget that he was determined to keep his distance from the intriguing woman. Nevertheless, after just a few seconds, she realized something that made her pause long enough for Goose to headbutt her hand impatiently. The woman, however, looked up the Director questioningly. "Goose is not just any regular cat, is she?"

Fury shook his head. "Flerken," he said simply and shrugged. He did not expect that name to mean anything to her…but he could not have been more wrong.

"Really?" she breathed as she studied the feline more intently while she continued to pet it. "That's fascinating!" When she finally looked away from Goose and back up in time to see Fury's curious look, she just laughed again and explained. "Magical creatures and sentient non-human beings are one of my specialties, you know. Consequently, I was extremely excited to get my hands on the classified SHIELD files when I finally attained the proper clearance. I then continued my research on every known species: human, magical, alien…or otherwise. The Flerkens, in particular, caught my attention because they seemed to be so similar to Kneazles," here she paused to nod towards Crookshanks - who was contentedly kneading his paws on the Director's leg. "Well…Kneazles minus the mouth tentacles and interdimensional pockets, of course."

"So, he's no ordinary cat either, is he?" Fury asked, already guessing the answer as he looked down at his new friend. The feline just looked back at him regally as he mewed intelligently in response to all of the attention that was rightfully focused on him.

"Not at all," she shook her head with amusement. "Kneazles are the most intelligent of the magical feline breeds. They are quite famous for getting in and out of places that they are not supposed to…and they seem to specialize in locked doors. That's probably how he ended up in your office in the first place – especially if he sensed that Goose was in here, as well. Plus, they are known to be very long-lived creatures and extremely good judges of characters." She explained with a grin while she nodded pointedly at the feline that insisted on remaining in _his_ lap.

"Interestingly enough, I have been assured of the very same things about Flerkens," he countered as he quirked his eyebrow significantly at the loudly purring alien feline who was cuddled up in _her _lap.

"Well, I will consider that to be a very good sign about my current company, then. How about you, Director Fury?"

The man could not help but to notice then that the woman's tone was light and slightly teasing while both her eyes and smile were warm as she regarded him. As a result, Fury could not help but to respond to it all with an uncharacteristically good-humored look of his own as he answered.

"I do, indeed."

Then, almost as if there had been an invisible and inaudible signal that only they could hear, both felines jumped down at the same time. Their humans were currently so intent on each other, however, that they barely noticed Goose and Crookshanks' departure as they headed together across the office to the cat bed.

All of a sudden, Fury realized that he was actually grinning at the woman across the desk from him._ Sweet Jesus!_ he thought incredulously. _Am I actually flirting with the witch? Yes, she is attractive and brilliant. Plus, Goose obviously approves of her but…Goddammit!...she is engaged…maybe even married by this point! _

The disappointing thought brought his attention back to the present and Fury finally noticed that the weight of the Kneazle was gone from his lap. He looked over to the cat bed to see the two unique creatures all tangled up together in a pool of orange…and he realized with a start that he did not know exactly what the two of them had been up to before he came into the office.

"Um…Special Agent Granger," he said slowly as his mind suddenly whirled with all of the possible outcomes of such a situation. "By any chance, do you know if Kneazles and Flerkens can…well…if they are…_biologically compatible?"_

"What!" It was obvious that such a situation had apparently never occurred to the startled witch either as she also looked quickly over at the bed where the felines were. Crookshanks saw them and gave them both an incredibly smug look before he yawned and nonchalantly draped a paw over Goose.

"Bloody hell," she whispered. "We may have just unintentionally created an entirely new species." She met Fury's eye over the desk.

"Maybe we should keep that information to ourselves for a while," he suggested sagely.

"I agree," she replied. Then the smile that had been lost in the shock of it all returned to her. This time it was even brighter than before. "Well, if we are going to be in-laws, then maybe we should…at the very least…get to know each other better. After all, if wouldn't do to keep the lovebirds apart."

Fury usually kept a tight clamp on his emotions. However, he still felt an uncharacteristic rush of excitement at the thought of becoming better acquainted with the intriguing woman - even though the implication also confused the hell out of him at the same time. He wanted to make sure that there were absolutely no misunderstandings on his part first. Therefore, since Fury was not known for being subtle, he went ahead and asked the question that was weighing on his mind. "Wouldn't your fiance object to that, Special Agent Granger?"

"My _what?_ Oh, do you mean _Ron?_" she asked with so much surprise that Fury felt that excitement rise up again. It was a feeling that continued to grow as she explained. "He probably would, but it certainly would not do him any good now. We broke up ages ago when he tried to give me an ultimatum when I decided to join SHIELD full time. He wanted me to stay home and pop out babies while the world took care of itself. _That_ was never going to happen!" she paused to snort derisively. "Plus…and this was probably an even more important indicator that our relationship was not meant to be…Crooks never really liked _him."_ With the emphasis on that last word, she turned to favor him with her brilliant smile once more before she added, "By the way, no more of that Special Agent Granger nonsense. Please call me Hermione. After all, we're family now." She gave a little delightful laugh at that idea as she looked over towards their companions in the corner. Then she sighed regretfully.

"This has been nice," she said and the honesty of her statement was evident in her tone. "Unfortunately, however, duty calls. If you will excuse me, I have another meeting in just a few minutes. However, first I need to go find Clint and kick his arse for letting Crooks out of his sight to begin with. _Hawkeye,_ my foot!" She snorted indelicately at the misnomer while Fury thought that he might be willing to pay good money to see such a confrontation between one of his best field agents and the witch.

"After all," Hermione continued, unaware of his irreverent thought, "there are a lot of big dogs out there…and I don't want Crooks to hurt any of them by accident." She then turned again towards the practically indistinguishable Kneazle part of the ginger pile in the pet bed. "However, Crookshanks adores Clint, so what can you do?" She just shrugged. At the sound of his name, however, the Kneazle cracked one eye to look at his human. Hermione smiled fondly at her familiar. "Are you ready to go, Crooks?" she asked.

"Mrow!" was the obviously negative response - which he punctuated with a definitive tail swish. Then the Kneazle immediately closed his eye again in dismissal and continued his cat nap with Goose.

Hermione just shook her head and looked back at the Director with eyes that sparkled with amusement. "Well, I guess that answers my question."

"I don't mind if he stays," Fury admitted as he attempted to hold back his laugh at the interaction between the witch and her familiar…especially since it reminded him so much of himself and Goose. Then his tone darkened. "I'll be here anyway," he added gloomily as he indicated the piles of paperwork that littered his desk.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked. "Because that would be perfect!" The woman smiled at him gratefully and Fury felt his gloom lift temporarily at the sight as he nodded his agreement. "I'll be back at the end of the day for him…and then we can decide what to do about this…well…_unexpected development." With that euphemism, s_he paused to wave her hand towards the direction of the snoozing felines before she turned that motion into a little goodbye wave for him instead. Then, with just one more smile, she disappeared on the spot without warning - apparently on her way to find Barton. Fury had seen a lot of crazy things in all of his years with SHIELD, but magic like that still surprised and impressed him.

Despite that, Fury felt the loss of her dynamic presence immediately and it took him only a few seconds to decide that when Special Agent Granger…no…_Hermione_…came back to claim her cat, he definitely would ask her out to dinner. After all, she had been perfectly correct. They really should get better acquainted…because who knew how long it would take for them to be certain if there were going to be any magical, mouth-tentacled kittens...or not...in their future? After all, it was not as if they could just take Goose to the vet. He then wondered if Hermione knew a spell for determining pregnancy and how long it would be before she could use it...or if it would even work on an alien in the first place.

As he continued to think about the witch and her special skill set, he also considered the fact that maybe…despite what he had told Danvers…he might even invite the extraordinary woman to call him Nick. The thought of his first name being murmured in her softly accented voice gave him a little shiver of pleasure that reinforced the idea. Yes, Hermione should definitely be encouraged to use it. After all, she was obviously on a first name basis with Coulson and Barton...so it would not seem too strange if she did it for him, as well - especially if they became close.

At any rate, the intriguing thought of spending more time with the lovely, intelligent, and fascinating witch helped Fury to decide that maybe 'Bring Your Pet to Work Day' was not such a bad idea, after all. In fact, if the situation actually worked out the way he hoped it would, a commendation might actually be in order for the one responsible for it in the first place. With that idea in mind, the Director turned back to his mound of paperwork in a much better mood with an actual smile on his face and a sparkle in his good eye.

Meanwhile, in their bed in the corner, Goose and Crookshanks continued to cuddle as they congratulated themselves on both finding a mate in each other...and for bringing their humans together, as well. After all, with their superior senses they could _smell_ the obvious interest that the two people already had for one another...and they knew that it would only be a matter of time before they acted on it, as well!


End file.
